Savage: "[T]here's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government"
On his radio show, Michael Savage said, "I am telling you that there's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government up and down the line, in police departments, in fire departments. Everywhere in America, you're going to see an exchange that you've never seen in history, and it's not gonna be necessarily for the betterment of this country."
During the November 18 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage said, "You haven't seen any of what's coming in this country. You are going to see the wholesale replacement of competent white men, and I'm targeting exactly the group that's gonna be thrown out of jobs in the government. And I'll say it, and I'll be the first to say it, and I may be not the only -- the last to say it. I am telling you that there's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government up and down the line, in police departments, in fire departments. Everywhere in America, you're going to see an exchange that you've never seen in history, and it's not gonna be necessarily for the betterment of this country."
Earlier in the segment, Savage said of President-elect Barack Obama: "[W] hen you're socially promoted, you wind up as president of the United States. If you're socially promoted your whole life and nobody challenges you because you're of the proper constitution and composition and you look exactly right and no one's -- everyone's afraid to say a word to you, why, you then go to Harvard, you then go to the law review, you then get elected, you then get elected to the next level. This is what happens in a country that's intimidated by its own policies and its own fears."
During the presidential campaign, Savage repeatedly described Obama as an "affirmative action" candidate. For instance, Media Matters for America noted that on his October 27 broadcast, Savage said that Obama "benefited from affirmative action, stepping over more qualified white men, I actually lost as a result of affirmative action, many times in my life. ... [W]e have America's first affirmative action candidate about to become president." Media Matters also documented Savage's February 1 claim that the Democratic presidential primary contest "is, or can be seen as, the first affirmative action election in American history." He added, "We have a woman and a multi-ethnic man running for office on the Democrat side. Is this not akin to an affirmative action election? Isn't that why the libs are hysterical, tripping over themselves to say amen and yes to this affirmative election vote?" Additionally, Media Matters has noted that Savage called "civil rights" a "con" and claimed that affirmative action stole his "birthright," and his "manhood."
Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 8.25 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.
From the November 18 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: New Hampshire, Dennis, you're on The Savage Nation.
CALLER: Thank you, sir. Just -- my question was -- it's not a question. It's just -- I'm 62 years old, and when I went to school, if you didn't cut the mustard, you stayed back. Now, I guess we have this thing called social promotions, which means that --
SAVAGE: Yes, and you have self-esteem -- if -- in fact, now, if you do cut the mustard a little too sharply, they single you out for being a racist.
CALLER: Exactly. Exactly. And my -- I would like to hear, you know, your comments on this whole aspect of social promotion, because usually the people that are socially promoted end up, unfortunately, like Columbine, bringing guns to school or whatever.
SAVAGE: No, no, when you're socially promoted, you wind up as president of the United States. If you're socially promoted your whole life and nobody challenges you because you're of the proper constitution and composition and you look exactly right and no one's -- everyone's afraid to say a word to you, why, you then go to Harvard, you then go to the law review, you then get elected, you then get elected to the next level. This is what happens in a country that's intimidated by its own policies and its own fears.
CALLER: You've put it in perspective for me, and I appreciate that. And it's --
SAVAGE: But this is just the beginning of it, my friend. You haven't seen any of what's coming in this country. You are going to see the wholesale replacement of competent white men, and I'm targeting exactly the group that's gonna be thrown out of jobs in the government. And I'll say it, and I'll be the first to say it, and I may be not the only -- the last to say it. I am telling you that there's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government up and down the line, in police departments, in fire departments. Everywhere in America, you're going to see an exchange that you've never seen in history, and it's not gonna be necessarily for the betterment of this country.
CALLER: I agree with you 100 percent, and --
SAVAGE: Why am I the only one who has the nerve to say what's actually going on and what is going to happen under this guy unless he's stopped? And I'll tell you why -- because I see it happening. What I see happening is the radical left, which hijacked the Democrat [sic] Party, is pulling the party as far to the left as possible, as fast as possible, and there is a vacuum on the other side. There is no Republican Party, there is no conservative movement -- there is nobody left. George Bush gutted the Republican Party. George Bush gutted the conservative movement. There is not a voice on the right, with far and few exceptions. You'll find them maybe in radio, nowhere else. You know that and I know that.
The other right-wing media mogul you should worry about
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
Maybe since we've had mostly "competent" white men running the show for the last gazillion years, we should clear them all out.
Look what they've accomplished. Two seemingly endless wars, a ruined economy, an environment raped and plundered, our cities abandoned, the constitution torn to shreds and institutionalized torture.
Get rid of the whole sorry lot.
Yup! Double You shure lowered the bar, didn't he!
Er... Actually Wienee boy got it half wrong. Since Obama is also half white, Maybe competent blacks and whites will be fired and replaced by those of mixed race. Or Maybe Obama will fire people who don't have the same astrological sign as he does.
Maybe a little jail time for some of these "competent" white men wouldn't be a bad thing.
Jail time? We can only be so lucky!
As for Savage: "[T]here's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government"
1) The many white men that will be fired..... are not competent!
2) They are of the rightwing corporate persuasion.....
3) They simply would not fit in with the concept of change
4) It's the right of the president to hire/fire anyone he damn well pleases (within the executive)....
5) and since 90% of the Bush regime are white guys..... duh!!
Poor.... poor Mr Savage.... kinda sucks for ya huh.... that the new sheriff in town is a black man... get over it clown!
There's a wholesale firing of competent white men and others in various states of competence, whiteness, and/or maleness every time there's a new administration. This is known as the spoils system. Is Savage's beef that more of these positions will be filled by nonwhites and women in a Democratic administration? Well, DUUH!
One thing I'm absolutely convinced of is that Obama and his people will insist on competence in all their appointments.
I'm still holding out hope for a wholesale firing of incompetent white men in the talk radio business.
Damn I thought he was talking about Bush for a second when he was going on about going to Harvard and everybody being afraid to say anything about it. Here's something Savage is afraid to say: 'Barack Obama is better than me, smarter than me and he got in to Harvard and on the Law Review because he worked his ass off.'
Savage responded to a caller who brought that up. His rebuttal:
Michael Savage, Ph.D
That proves absolutely nothing, dawuss ...
I've known plenty of Ph.Ds who were too stupid to come in out of the rain.
Dr. Weiner has built a pretty good life based on fear and ignorance. Only in America ...
Keep in mind the that Michael Savage does not have a Ph.D. But Michael Weiner does and last I checked isn't his degree in Botany?
Also, since when does a Ph.D in Botany give someone the qualifications to diagnose liberialism as a mental disorder?
Not much of a rebuttal.
I think Savage envisions a White House that will look like the "black"congress in "The Birth of a Nation" (I bet he believes that that movie is a historical documentary).
"There is not a voice on the right, with far and few exceptions. You'll find them maybe in radio, nowhere else."
Wow, I only wish. Having those who don't know how to govern confined to radio studios would be a good start.
Who listens to this windbag, anyway! What a jerk!
I sometimes do, because I like to get a variety of opinions (I also periodically watch Keith O weeknights as well, and I don't think anyone's branded him a "conservative").
Do you also god down to the street corner to hear the ravings of mentally ill homeless people?
I too listen to M. Savage. In Sacramento, there was at one time an Air America affiliate AND an independent liberal talk station. They both folded. If I want to hear someone talk about politics, it often has to be an ogre. Also, it helps me understand how people like my father-in-law "think."
Why is Obama supposed to keep republicans employed? Bush cleared out a whole lotta competant white democrats, we can't do the same? Poor babies.
omg! affirmative action stole his "manhood"! that is just too f*ng funny!
phd = piled higher and deeper
ok, back to planet earth. a couple of problems with "dr" savage's assertion:
1. AA's only constitute roughly 12% of the total population. unless every single one is going to be employed, some white people will have to be kept on.
2. what federal fire departments are there, or police, for that matter? true, there are federal law enforcement agencies, but i don't think any are called police. i could be wrong.
he must just be laughing his ass off all the way to the bank, knowing that his choir believes all this nonsense. he found people stupider than him, and they eat it up.
You got here before I did, both of those things struck me as well. My take on the 12% is that if you're going to force competent white men out of jobs, you'd better have the numbers to engage in physical confrontation. This is something my wife has emphatically pointed out everytime someone talks about a "race war". How are you going to do that with that small a percentage of the population, and a percentage that's proportionately disadvantaged at that? Similarly, how would you get away with "wholesale" dismissal of a majority race? It's complete lunacy. There would be blood in the streets over wholesale demotions, much less terminations.
I don't believe there are any federal law enforcement officers called "police". I think Savage strayed from his point a little there, going from the Federal government to state, county and city government. It's a little surprising for someone as lucid and rational as he is wandering like that, I know.
"Why am I the only one who has the nerve to say what's actually going on and what is going to happen under this guy unless he's stopped?"
1. You just outed yourself as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Again.
2. You want Obama assassinated, right? You filthy scum.
If Obama's not assassinated, and doesn't operate a pogrom against white people, what will Savage say?
Probably he'll be on to the next BS prognostication by then.
I don't mean to take any fire away from discussion of the racist comments, but what does Savage and that caller mean by "Cutting the Mustard", and by "cutting it too sharply"? Is it another one of those "Joe Six-Pack" epithets?
"Cutting the mustard" means meeting the required standard, which in the caller's case would mean getting a passing grade in school.
"Cutting it too sharply" means exceeding the standard, such as getting 90%. (I was going to say earning a cum laude but was afraid that I might have to explain that too.)
Since the presidential election, Savage has really been showing a weakness - he can't come up with any new inflammatory topics. So he keeps re-hashing the "Obama is going to institute socialism in the US" blah, blah, blah.
Come on!! That was yesterday's fear mongering, Savage!! Can't you come up with any new material??
I actually thought he had a bit more creativity to his nature, but apparently I have been proven wrong. Savage is even more pathetic than I thought.
My Republican* co-worker informed me that "we" are in the minority now, and "they" are the majority.After a few follow-up questions as to WTF he was talking about, I left it at explaining to him that Obama hadn't created a huge army of Black androids, and he was safe.
I also explained to him that John McCain didn't really care about him, even though they're both white.
* I refer to him as MRCW, but he's not really a Repub, but he votes that way when he gets his fat ass to the polls. He's really a white guy in his 50s who lives in Orange County, doesn't pay any attention to politics or the news,and is scared of a lot of stuff, and does the laziest thing he can do; call himself a Republican.
As I monitor Savage and a couple of the other right-wing-nuts I am trying to discern their next moves. Hate radio is spinning its wheels right now. They can't seem to latch onto a topic that they can grind to death and use to harass progressives. It is the same old stuff they have been using since the primaries - liberal bashing, race baiting, the muslims are going to kill us, we will have either communism or sharia imposed on us - none of which is catching on with the general public.
So any ideas on what hate radio will try next or do you think they have been dealt a death blow with the Democratic sweep?
They'll attack any and all healthcare proposals and legislation. That's my guess. They'll frame like they always do: 1) it's socialism, constrains choice. and 2)full bore cultural resentment; providing for the feckless, undisciplined, immoral losers.
They're not dead yet, they'll be feeling better soon. But I think we can keep them in check if we push back and are not indifferent to aggressively highlighting their utter lack of principles, lack of convictions, lack of awareness and lack of knowledge.
MRCW represents the demographic the Republicans will be targetting for the next twenty years or so.
Luckily for Weiner, that means he'll be able to get a government job.
It's the you're on your own society, stupid.
The conservative movement itself gutted conservatism with its divisive, full tilt culture war; its wholesale firing of its core values.
Bush is the inevitable conclusion of an ideology that pits neighbor against neighbor in bitter competition for limited resources like healthcare or living wages. Cons have nobody to blame but themselves for their monumental incompetence, which by the way, if you haven't taken a gander at the Republican Party lately, it happens to be predominantly white males. Where are all those competent white guys in the Bush administration hiding, Savage? Take some damn responsibility, already, for the shortcomings of conservatism.
Just get out of the way of progress, Savage, because the 21st century is here.
The truth is Obama is asking everyone in the country, from top to bottom, competent to incompetent to do their part. Hell, I got an email from the president elect asking me to do my part, to contribute money and/or hours for the victims of the California wild fires. What has the conservative answer been? Where are all of those competent white guys in government and why haven't they, like Obama, through modern technology and old fashioned community empowerment, been able to harness the collective strength of the American people to help those in need?
The point is this country belongs to all of us, not just just the white guys that Savage is wringing his hands over.
So the question is, Mikey, why don't you do something constructive? What you do: deconstruction, is easy, Mike. In fact, it's lazy.
As long as we get rid of the INcompetent white douchebag who currently occupies the White House, I'm willing to try something different.
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Michael Savage, radio talk person, is just that - A TALK PERSON.
Freedom of speech is a privilege in America. However, it should always have balance.
The privilege demands responsibility.
It is always a great idea to factor in common sense, sensitivity, awareness, logic and common sense.
Michael's comments are devoid of all, especially common sense. He is into TALK - To chatter, to spread a rumor. In this case, he is engaging in rapid unwise statements to get attention.
Additionally, he as with his counterparts, has a following that feed on this type of limited thinking. Michael seeks to demean President-elect Barack Obama's ivy-league training and successes to-date.
Wholesale firing of competent white men? These Caucasian men that he is talking about, will they come to the table with like qualifications of Governor Sarah Palin and because they are Caucasian be automatically vetted? You know, as an African American woman with six decades of life, I have seen my fill. In fact, I have seen too much.
I would argue, not all, but many have gotten positions (probably like Michael), not necessary because they were the best applicant, but based on race, who they knew, what they had access to monetarily, and who they were able to influence outside of the pre-requisites of the employment.
The key word here is "competent". Webster's Revised Dictionary, 1998 defines "competent" as:
1. having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc.
2. adequate, but not exceptional Nutritional Ethnomedicine
It also defines "talk" as "chatter" and chatter as, purposeless or foolish talk.
As a person of Color, we have had centuries of wholesale denial of Freedoms, whether competent or exceptional talent. Just as we see from Michael’s comments, even today President-elect, African American, top of his class at an American ivy-league school, in law, is engaged in marginalization by the non-thinking of the many Michael Savage types.
Is it fair to speak of his University of Berkeley doctorate in Nutritional Ethnomedicine, his desire to be a comic is full circle with his comments?
I'll be back.
Mary Glass - Milwaukeean
I mean, I heard this comment live (live in Central Cali, no Air America, no nothing...) and the affirmative action reference came, even within the "context" of this lunatic's show, out of NOWHERE. It's as if Michael Weiner, PhD. has a list of words that he knows will get the biggest reaction from his listeners. This AA crap came out of NOWHERE and was apropos of NOTHING. This was just a flagrant attempt to insult people of color as inferior to white people and propagates what must be a core belief of so-called "conservatives" who listen to this show, to wit, that people of color, unless aided by affirmative action, cannot do anything great in this society. Why would this be? Because people of color must be inferior to whites.
Michael Wiener is a STRAIGHT-UP RACIST and his listeners who eat this crap up are too.
Willie Horton ad, anyone?
On his Nov 19 show, he raged about a "PR admiral" who he blamed for the USN's inability to stamp out Somali pirates. I don't know if he was nominating the admiral for replacement or exempting him on the grounds of incompetence.
Imam Wiener was probably miffed that the Indian Navy sank a pirate ship while the USN hasn't. He even speculated about moving to India (we can only hope!), but recanted because the food there is too spicy.
Gee I hope you're first What a scenic improvement that would be
"SAVAGE: No, no, when you're socially promoted, you wind up as president of the United States."
Apparently the savage wiener doesn't know (or ignores) the fact that Obama actually had to earn his grades in order to graduate Harvard, graduate Law School, earn acceptance to the Law Review, etc... Obama was a Professor of Constitutional Law while the savage wiener has a PhD in alternative medicine (look it up).